The One I Love
by Horsey Spike
Summary: Angel and Spike sing . The Host always picks up on more than he should. Spoilers for Season 2 of Angel. Slashy tones.
1. The One I Love

  
Title: The One I Love (1/1)  
  
Author: Horsey Spike  
  
E-mail: HorseySpike@aol.com  
  
Disclaimer: Characters don't belong to me. Joss and Co. owns them. Blah, blah, and blah. The song, "The One I Love" is by REM, off their album, Document.  
  
Distribution: SpikeNAngelFic archive and anyone else I've given permission to. All else, ask.  
  
Spoilers: Season 2 of Angel, basically just the karaoke bar there. (Oh, I couldn't stay away from karaoke too long. You guys know that.)  
  
Summary: Angel sings to find out the future of the lost soul he's supposed to find. The Host always picks up on more than he should.  
  
Author's Notes: I couldn't resist. You guys now I love karaoke. I need to wean myself slowly from it, so here's a nice little piece I've been thinking of for a while now. Enjoy!  
  
Dedicated to: All those who loved the Karaoke Series. Or even liked it a little. You guys made that thing possible, and this is a tribute to you.   
_______________________  
  
"This one goes out to the one I love.   
This one goes out to the one I've left behind.   
A simple prop to occupy my time.   
This one goes out to the one I love."  
  
The dark haired vampire struggled a little with the words and the melody. These modern songs were so confusing to get the melody down, but it wasn't as if you could stand up here and sing Bach. No, that just wasn't happening.  
  
So, he was making a fool of himself, yet again. But, this time it is for real, and not around any of his employees. They had opted out of this road trip, and Angel did not blame them.  
  
They were searching for a girl Wolfram & Hart had repeatedly been using for their double-dealings. What else was new?   
  
This girl was something special. She held the key. The key to eternal life, without becoming a vampire. Wolfram & Hart wanted her because of that, but she saw through their disguises after a matter of time. Over a hundred years of experience in life will do that to a person.   
  
So, Angel was looking for her, and he was desperate, and everyone knew what that meant. He went singing.   
  
"Fiiirrre."  
  
Angel tried really hard to make his voice sound like the voice on the radio had sounded. He heard this song on the radio on his drive over, and decided it was as good as any to sing.  
  
He really didn't like singing. He blamed it on the wanting to keep the shadows thing he had going on. The singing was very conspicuous and left him feeling very open, like everyone was prying him open with dull crowbars.   
  
Spike would have no trouble singing up here. He loved to be in the center of attention. He always laughed at Angelus tendency to stay out of the lime light, always seducing the pretty things away from the crowd of the people. But Spike, oh...  
  
Spike. Angel's mind briefly wandered for a bit on that man. Vampire. Whatever.   
  
"This one goes out to the one I love.   
This one goes out to the one I've left behind.   
A simple prop to occupy my time.   
This one goes out to the one I love."  
  
As Angel sang the words again, same verse, thanking God for that, he realized the words fit with him and Spike perfectly. Every word.  
  
"Fiirre." Angel sang again, mind still reeling with that revelation. How long had it been since he'd thought of Spike that way? Oh, maybe a hundred years, give or take a few.   
  
Spike. How could Angel ever forget Spike? A little smile flitted across his face, before realizing that he was still on stage, and the demons and people of the bar were still watching him.   
  
"This one goes out to the one I love.   
This one goes out to the one I've left behind.   
A simple prop to occupy my time.   
This one goes out to the one I love."  
  
Angel's eyes flicked around for his green demon friend, but couldn't locate him.   
  
He focused on the last line of the song, the word that meant so much to him and Spike, and all others of their kind.   
  
"Fiiirre." He finished at barely a whisper, but the microphone carried the words out to the crowd.  
  
Angel put the mic back, stepped off stage, got halfway to the bar, before the green demon stopped beside him.  
  
"So?" Angel asked, impatient as always, wanting to get out of his self-made humiliation, and back to saving the innocent.  
  
"So, you've got a lot of emotion behind that stony-looking mug of yours. I knew you were a softy, but who knew it was for short blond men as well as females." The demon took a swig of his drink, before setting it on one of the nearby tables.  
  
"Talk. Now." Angel growled, a bit upset of Spike being brought up by the host.   
  
"Alright, big fella, but you never know when those emotions are going to bite you hard."   
  
Angel simply glared.   
  
The demon cast one look behind him, before deciding to talk. Angel, focused on the demon, missed what he was looking at. Or rather who.  
  
A rather short, bleached blond male.   
  
END  



	2. Spotlight (A prequel)

TITLE: Spotlight (1/1)  
AUTHOR: Horsey Spike  
EMAIL: horseyspike@aol.com  
RATING: PG-13  
SUMMARY: Spike wanders into Caritas. He sings for Lorne. What do you think happens?  
SPOILERS: Only up to the episodes before Angel fires everyone.   
DISCLAIMER: All the people you have seen on the tv don't belong to me. Well, I would like to own them- but I don't think Joss will be willing to part with them.  
FEEDBACK: Por favor.  
DISTRIBUTION: Narcissitic Echo(http://www.geocities.com/horseyspike/), and anyone else can just ask.  
NOTES: Sorry it took me so long to spit this out- I've been busy at YGTS?.  
DEDICATION: To Jessica Walker, for that awesome fic she just sent in, "Many Loves". Everyone better have read that. Or you're gonna have to deal with me. ::looks threatening, then gets scared and hides::.  
_____________________________________  
  
"You're the one they want.  
So give them what the need,  
The temporary touch."  
  
Spike wasn't quite uncomfortable singing at the bar. No, not uncomfortable, never that.   
  
But, he did feel a little odd. Off, even. Like things were abnormal.  
  
But, that could be something to do with the really green demon watching him from the bar.  
  
"Feeling so ashamed,  
Don't wanna take the blame,  
Thinking it's to much."  
  
Spike had stumbled upon Caritas in his wanderings of LA. He was a little wary of a place that had the poncey 'No weapons or fighting allowed' sign, in fancy lettering, but he came in and got a drink anyway.   
  
Then, the big green guy come, and smiled at him, asking him to sing a number. More actually, challenged him to, and Spike couldn't resist a challenge.   
  
"So, now you have a taste,   
Of what it's like to be,  
Sitting in the spotlight."  
  
Spike had gotten up on stage, and decided to sing the first song he thought of.   
  
He was in LA- of course the song he thought of would have to do with Angel.   
  
Angel was all that had been on his mind, recently.   
  
"Would you rather be   
In someone else shoes,   
Not knowing who you are?"  
  
This place made him remember Angel. It was like it had been touched by Angel, and often, and Spike didn't dislike the feeling of being in his Sire's presence.   
  
Which was sorta scaring him.  
  
Spike prided himself on being able to make it this far without his Sire, and he often declared his hate for the man.   
  
But now, with the chip in his head, Spike's become more sappy, more the poet he used to be- and inside him was his reawaking love for Angel. Angelus. Or whoever he claimed to be these days.   
  
He'd heard that Angel hadn't been doing too hot in LA, not saving as many as he could because of human mistakes.  
  
Which was one thing Angel was always bad to a fault about: He made all these human mistakes, but never recognized them as human. Even as a soulless demon, he did it.   
  
Spike never bothered to point it out to him.   
  
"It's not the end of the world quite yet,  
And all of these things will get better, I'll bet"  
  
Spike was still singing, and he was still reflecting on Angel. And he wasn't even drunk yet.   
  
Alright, he'd admit he's been wanting to make things right between them. Maybe even that he'd like to help Angel. Bound to be better than helping the Slayer, right?   
  
But, Spike was a chicken when it came to Angel. He didn't want to be pushed away. He didn't want to not be accepted by Angel, and so that's why he didn't even take the chance.   
  
But, lately, more and more, he found himself wanting to be in his Sire's presense.   
  
"Who do you believe now,   
That you in the spotlight?  
Whatever you choose to do."  
  
Spike wondered who to believe. Wondered if he should believe Angel's words to him, or Angelus's? Angel's words that he never wanted to see Spike again, or Angelus's, which promised him they'd be together, forever.   
  
Spike wants to believe Angelus, but with Angel currently in control, he wasn't too sure it would be a bright idea to go and visit Angel.   
  
"You're coming through the side door   
People always want more,   
What are you gonna do?"  
  
Spike could see the big green guy watching him with a curious expression on his face. Then, he gave Spike a small smile, and kept on listening.   
  
"Cause you're the one they want,   
So keep them on their knees  
Keep them as you please, please, please."  
  
Spike had tried, boy, had he tried, to keep his world the way that he wanted it. He wanted to be with Dru, to kill the Slayer in Sunnydale, who had offed the Master. He did not want his unlife interupted by his broody, soulful Sire, and have it turned upside down. No, that had been last on the agenda. If it had even made it at all.   
  
"They're eating from your hands,  
You make them understand  
What it is to bleed."  
  
Bleeding. Spike knew about that. He was bleeding all the time, now. He wasn't bleeding physically, no, nothing as simple as that. No, his heart was bleeding. Was bleeding for loves lost, for stupid Sires who got themselves souled, for girls who didn't think he was the real demon. He didn't like it one bit.  
  
"So now you have a taste   
of what it's like to be,  
Sitting in the spotlight."  
  
Spike had liked that spotlight. He'd liked being feared, William the Bloody, killer of two Slayers, in the same century. Half of the Scourge of Europe.   
  
But, now? He was a nobody. A worthless nobody who was too afraid to even go to his Sire.  
  
"Would you rather be  
In someone else's shoes,  
Not knowing who you are?"  
  
Spike was suddenly mad at himself for choosing this song. For choosing a song that is perfectly describing him, and Angel, and all those feelings he'd like to hide.  
  
Sure, he'd love to be in someone else's shoes, as long as they walked a different path than him.   
  
He would rather not be a soulless, chipped vampire, who was still in love with his Sire after all this time.   
  
"But it's not the end of the world quite yet,  
And all of these things will get better I'll bet."  
  
Better, sure, whatever. Spike doubted things would get better for him. Why should they? He was worthless, remember?  
  
"Who do you believe now,   
That you're in the spotlight?  
Whatever you choose to do."  
  
So, he could do whatever he chose to do, huh? He could choose to walk out of here a new man, and kill himself his sire, to prove it.  
  
Or, he could walk out of here, and present himself to Angel, only to be turned away, and never to be in his Sire's presense again.  
  
"You're coming thorugh the side door  
People always want more  
What are you gonna do?"  
  
What was Spike going to do? He was faced with a couple choices here, none of them looked to happy and productive.   
  
Maybe, just maybe, Angel would be nice to him, to help him, and get him back on his feet, just like a Sire was supposed to do? Maybe?  
  
"Now that your life is through.."  
  
Spike set the mic back in the stand, hardly noticing the applause that followed him off the stage.   
  
He was confronted by the big green guy, as he was leaving the bar.  
  
"Don't you want to hear what I read?"  
  
"Read?" Spike asked, completely blank.   
  
"From your aura. That's what I do. You didn't know?"  
  
Spike shook his head 'no', and Lorne smiled, pushing a drink into the vampire's hand. "Here. Come sit and we'll talk."   
  
Lorne guidied Spike to a table, Spike, too shocked by the demon knowing exactly what kind of drink he liked the best, didn't bother to protest.  
  
"Now, sweetcheeks, I have to say I'm sorry for you're little predicament with the soldiers. The military is always a pain, right?" Lorne didn't wait for Spike's answer.   
  
"I'd also like to know what you think of your Sire, doing his detective gig down here in LA?"  
  
"You read Angel in my aura?" Spike asked him.  
  
"Boy, did I! It was like Angel-central, even more so than when I read him."   
  
"You've read Angel?" Spike asked.  
  
"Yep. And, despite all the darkness he's got, and the light to redemption so small, he's got a portion of his heart for you. And, it's been getting bigger everytime he sings. Either that, or he's wearing a hole in my aura-reading skills by his singing."   
  
"Yeah, he always has been bloody awful at it." Spike chuckled, ignoring the way his heart had clentched when the Host said that Angel had a place in his heart for Spike.   
  
"So I gathered." The Host raised an eyebrow at him, and set his glass back on the table. "Now, Spike, I've seen a couple of things in you that I don't think even you are expecting."   
  
"Like what?" Spike asked, seriously concerned.   
  
"Well, for one, Angel's coming in here tonight."  
  
"Really?" Spike kept his face an emotionless mask.   
  
"Really. And, I feel safe in telling you this, but I will never breathe a word to Angel: You're going to have to help him. The Powers that Be are going to be insisting on it."   
  
"The Powers that Be?" Spike questioned him.  
  
"Yeah, the big people that are running all that Angel saves. They're going to need you to do a big favor for one of his workers, and I really hope that you're up to the challenge."   
  
"What am I going to have to do?" Spike asked, a little worried. He hoped he wouldn't have to do anything too bloody heroic.  
  
"You'll have to save their life." The Host said, meeting Spike's eyes dead on.   
  
"Now, I'd suggest you skidaddle, unless you want to confront Angel here and now. He'll be coming in soon."   
  
Spike nodded, and got up from the table, heading for some convinent shadows to hide in.  
  
And, sure enough, Angel strode into the bar, as soon as Spike was hidden, and proceeded to sing a horrible redition or R.E.M.'s 'The One I Love." Spike was shuddering from the awfulness of it all.   
  
But, he spent the time thinking. Could he do what the Host said he would have to do? Could he work for Angel? Could he confront his Sire? Could he save a human? Not that he hasn't saved the world before, or anything..  
  
As Spike watched Angel talk to the green demon, a smile resided on his lips.   
  
Yeah, Spike would talk to Angel. He would do what was asked of him.   
  
How could he help it? He was in love with the big, soulful poof.  
  
-End  
  



End file.
